SHORT RECONNAISSANCE EXPEDITION IN QUEEN MAUD LAND
(Alain Hubert with Daniel Mercier)

Initially, Hubert and Mercier spent three days at the foot of the range and on the rock faces, and then a further two days were spent exploring the surroundings in order to get a better feel for the environment. Finally, the Holtanna was selected. The Hotanna is located in an amphi-theatre of superb mountains with a dozen summits, and it has two peaks lying to the North and to the South. The approach to the south peak is via a vertical rock face more than 800 metres high, a kind of vertiginous cliff, perfect for attempting the extreme climb. The two summits will both be on the programme for this expedition.

Monday 24th January (final message) : Much more difficult
and dangerous than anticipated...

Now that Hubert and Mercier are back home, antarctica.org can draft a short assessment report of this reconnaissance expedition to Queen Maud Land.
First about the trip : although Hubert and Mercier were away for more than a month, they only managed to spend 4 days in all at the location of the forthcoming Queen Maud Land 2000 expedition that Hubert is organising at the end of this year with a string of international climbers along with some new ideas regarding media coverage (from 31st December 1999 to 4th January 2000 they met and got along very well with the American team of Ronald Ross and Sheryl Schindler). We should remember that they were held up by the quite appalling weather that has delayed everyone down there this season. And don't forget, they spent 7 days making the trip from Patriot to Blue One, while the same journey was completed in 7 hours on 4th January when returning to the tourist base.

The environment : the peak chosen for next year's expedition is Holtanna, which reaches a height of 2680 metres and rises 800 metres above the ice-cap, which itself is at 1900 metres. Attached is a brief description of the location while we await the maps which will be available in March. As can be seen, the highest peaks in the amphitheatre that includes 12 summits - are Ulvetanna (2931 m, the preserve of Norwegian mountaineers) and Holtanna, which itself is made up of two peaks; the Queen Maud Land 2000 expedition - now called THE WALL intends climbing the higher of the two peaks (the more northerly, 2650 m) and then coming back down via the other. Needless to say the beauty of the scenery provided by the amphitheatre is enough to take your breath away...

A brief technical report. The routes are more difficult than anticipated and the rock is more abrasive; the rock is uneven in its strength and more fragile than at first thought, as well. The fissures in the granite are broad, which makes it difficult to insert pitons and the rock is also not good for drilling. As a reminder, it was not possible for the expedition to prepare the rock face up which the men will climb, as is the custom for climbers in any other part of the world, i.e. by inserting lots of pitons into the rock - protecting the Antarctic environment takes first priority. So the challenge will be all the more interesting as a result. In addition, the rock faces on Holtanna are nothing if not vertical and the degree of difficulty for the climb is 7, and even 7a, for free rock climbing and up to A3 or A4 for artificially aided climbing (there are also a number of spectacular overhangs).

The recce itself. Daniel Mercier and Alain Hubert explored the rock faces of Holtanna; during the brief time they spent in the amphitheatre and on the walls of Holtanna, Hubert and Mercier attempted to find a natural route to climb following the fissures in the rock. And they came to realise that they will have to climb using the "Pendulum" technique; which means that when they reach the end of one fissure, they will have to "swing" to find another close by so that they can continue the climb. They also decided to take all of their equipment with them to the summit because they will be coming back down via summit 2.

In testing the granite, they also tried out the new equipment - new parasails, skis and, particularly, the latest model of boots made by One Sport (with built-in Salomon SNS fixings). At the beginning of March we will speak in more detail about these boots and in particular about the new polar equipment in general in the Eco-Tourism section.

Wednesday 5th January 2000 : From Antarctica with love

Hubert hadn't had the time to tell us before, but he made the trip from Patriot Hills to Queen Maud Land in the company of an unusual group of American travellers. Indeed, having already been to the South Pole in 1998 and caught what is known as the Antarctic bug, they decided to return to the 6th continent this season and select a region in Queen Maud Land called "The Jaws of the Wolf". The purpose of this expedition is as follows : Ronald Ross has been mentoring a team of students at Stanford University in developing a micro-satellite for launch into space. The purpose of their trip is to test the electronic modules and telemetry algorithms by setting out a remote weather station. They are gathering the data along the way and sending it back to Stanford via ham satellite. Two key volunteers that deserve credit are Roy Welch W0SL and Jerry Smyth K8SAT who have been relaying the satellite messages and images to the mailing list and web site.

It was this expedition, via their correspondent based in San Francisco, Ed Anderson, that this weekend sent us this photo.
Which is how we are not only able to visualise the Holtana for the first time (in the background on the photo), but also to publish some of the superb shots taken by Sheryl Schindler, who is Ronald Ross's wife - many thanks to them.
Just for the record, we would remind you that for the purposes of his reconnaissance expedition in Queen Maud Land, Alain did not think it necessary to take the usual transmitting equipment with him, which would have enabled him to send us this type of picture.

But the trip has turned out to be very necessary for him - at least that is what he told us during the afternoon of Friday 7th January during a satellite link-up from the base at Patriot Hills, where he had just arrived. "Of course, 4 days in Queen Maud Land, when we thought we were going to stay there for 15, is a little on the short side," he explained."But it was very profitable from every point of view, especially in terms of matters technical. Because we came to realise, Daniel and me, that these rocks are much more dangerous than we'd thought; in fact, there are highly abrasive and fragile on the surface. So you've got to watch out! We also found out that the possible ways of tackling these steep faces are extremely difficult...Having said that, we have identified the right routes to take, which is part of the reason why we came to Antarctica in the first place this season..." 
The return of Hubert and Mercier to Belgium will probably be around 15th January - the Antarctic weather permitting, of course.

Wednesday 5th January 2000 : Aerial peregrinations in the Antarctic...

As he passed through the Blue One base on 29th December last, Alain Hubert was able to give us a brief rundown on his odyssey across the western part of Antarctica. "Because of the rotten weather - regular visitors here have never seen such bad conditions - it took me exactly seven days to get from Patriot Hills to Blue One," Hubert explained as he used the satellite phone at the ANI base. "First of all, as we were going from Patriot to Blue One on 24th December, we had to change course and head for Berkner Island, which is usually the starting point for all expeditions aiming to cross the continent. There, we bivouacked and had quickly to build some makeshift igloos. I can tell you that our Christmas Eve was unusual, to say the least! After that, we stayed there, hemmed in for two days - wind, white-out and snow...
"On the morning of the 27th, we were finally able to take off for Blue One, but as the trip had been longer than planned, we were forced to refuel. Fortunately, the people at ANI make provision for this type of unexpected event and have established fuel dumps between Patriot and Blue One, just in case... So we had to refill our tanks like this twice. The first time was on the Weddell Sea, and the second on the continental shelf in a location that is very close to the place where they plan to build the European scientific research base, Epica.
"But our trip was not yet over because we were not able to reach Blue One with the same tank of fuel - once again because of the weather - and so we had to head for the Sanae South African base. There, we were received like royalty and I finally had the opportunity of visiting a scientific base other than the town of McMurdo or the Amundsen Scott base at the South Pole. It was all very interesting and I have to repeat that the people, technicians and researchers alike, were extremely pleasant. "We finally reached Blue One on the evening of 29th December. "We have just disembarked in fact and in less than an hour, we're leaving again for Oltana. We were planning to make the trip using our powerkites, but the weather won't allow it, so we have asked the pilot to take us closer to the mountains. I will probably be back at Patriot Hills around the 4th or 5th of January - weather permitting, of course. Apart from these little contretemps, we're in great shape... Daniel and I are dying to start climbing so granite... "Speak to you soon and best wishes to everyone."

Thirsday 16th decembre 99 : Rotten weather at Patriot Hills

Stinking weather in this part of Antarctica, Alain Hubert told us after arriving at Patriot Hills a few days ago, accompanied by Daniel Mercier.

For those who don't know, the two men are carrying out a recce in Queen Maud Land ahead of the expedition making an attempt on the granite wall next year. But things could be a lot better. Because the weather is rotten at Patriot, where Alain and Daniel are stuck by the snow and wind - along with 25 other tourists for that matter, who are waiting for the weather to improve.
"They have never seen weather like it," Alain told us by phone on Thursday afternoon 16th December. "The storm is dreadful, with snow and wind all the time. The wind has been blowing constantly at speeds of around 80 and even 100 km/h! At the moment, there are also a number of tourists who are stuck with a DC3 at the South Pole - they don't know when they'll be back...so you could say that the atmosphere here is a little on the morose side..."
Another piece of news that may also affect Dixie's expedition; according to an American expedition that has just returned from Mount Vinson, an enormous amount of snow has fallen on the mountain in recent weeks, which enabled the Americans to make the entire descent by... snowboard.